as we start at the top of a new hour on this night that has open the outgoing president, the incumbent as he put it pass the baton to the nominee of the democratic party, hillary clinton. >> one thing that i'm not sure we knew to expect from tonight as a whole, and i certainly didn't know to expect it from the president's remarks so overtly, was this was packed to independents, to republicans, to conservativ conservatives. they know is this a room full of democrats and they're making a democrat being party case, but for the president to say about the republican national

convention last week that it wasn't conservative, it wasn't republican, to hear tim kaine making the case for his father-in-law as former republican governor of virginia, to hear michael bloomberg making the case as an independent, all of these people not only representing themselves and these stories that they're telling, but making a case. listen, if you're a republican, an independent, if you don't usually vote by party and certainly not with the democratic party, give us a look this year. >> nicolle wallace was in the audience. you have worked for more than one republican president and you've certainly tried to launch more than that. what did you think of what you witnessed and put it in context of the rest of national politics you've seen. >> reporter: rachel talked about how well this president is liked by democrats. lauren talked about how he would

be president 37 years ago. i didn't vote for him either time. but from the time we saw the video play and we saw this president's humanity, we saw how he was willing to spend his political capital to do what he thought was right. it made you proud he's been our president for the last eight years. i think he was speaking to disaffected republicans. he was the first person to take on trumpism. everybody else that's made a case, they've made a permanent case against trump. president obama made the case against trumpism. he made the definitive case. i think you'll hear it repeated but democrats and not just the one running for president but republicans reeling from the kinds of things that our candidate says about nato, about russia, about using russian intelligent services to hack into american entities. i thought he really made the most effective, the most compelling, the most moving case about what it means to be an american today.

>> i'm going to ask your former counterpart in gop battles to weigh in on that same point. >> i think tomorrow you will see hillary clinton reach out to millions of falcons this country who disagree with her on many issues, but understand and agree with the president's take on the character of the u.s., the character of the country, the decency of the american people. i think millions of republicans are going to be open to that message. this with us a flawless night for the testimo for the democrats. they had a few members of the looney left booing for panetta. you saw tim kaine reaching out. tim kaine speaking in spanish. you could almost feel the republican vote share sliding down with the speech. joe biden appealing to those white working class voters, the middle class.

what nicole just pointed out is exactly right, i think. what you saw tonight was the taking on of trumpism as a philosophy and the detachment of it from the republican party and conservatives. >> i'm quite sure leon panetta couldn't have dreamed he was walking in to friendly fire from the left. >> i think that there was going to be a moment tonight on national security night when the left, the anti-war left of the party booed somewhere, someone so as to make their feelings known about the continuing war in afghanistan and guantanamo and the drone wars and the fight on terror and all of the beefs that some parts of the left have with the national security agenda of this presidency. i thought it make no substantive sense to pig that part of leon panetta's teach to boo. they knew they couldn't boo by

deny or leon panetta himself. it was an organized effort. it made absolutely no sense with what he was talking about at the time they started making noise. >> let's talk about the long view with a guy we asked to come up with a long view every night because that, after all, is how he makes his living. presidential historian and author michael beschloss. michael, again, in your line of work you're supposed to be the thoughtful ones. we can argue and fuss and fight and rave in new york and in philadelphia. how do you think this will live beyond tonight and talk about the skills of the president we just saw. >> well, i can make a really flat statement, brian. which is that we have never -- we americans have never heard a stronger convention endorsement

speech by any outgoing president of the united states for his preferred successor. that's how this was really unusual tonight. you look at the speeches that someone like for instance ronald reagan gave in 1988 or others earlier in american history. it tends to be sort of a farewell. they go through the highlights of their own administration, how they'd like to be remembered and there are a few nice words for the candidate running that fall. this went so far beyond that. it's like nothing we've ever seen before. it was not only that kind of endorsement mch he went on to give a scathing indictment of donald trump, which is something you often don't hear from an outgoing president. and the other thing is he knew that the one person who can unite just about every north person in that convention hall tonight was barack obama and he did that so well in trying to bring in the bernie voters along with the hillary voters. it couldn't have been a bigger gift to hillary clinton. >> talk about the figure he's become among presidents. i know it's early for that

judgment. talk about the example he has become, an example of what to whom? >> well, i think if you're thinking of what historians will write a hundred years from now, certainly, obviously, they'll say this was the first african-american president, but a lot of what we heard in that film tonight and a little bit in his speech are the kind of things you'll hear barack obama's champions saying for himself, that this is a president who saved the auto industry, restored the economy, reduced our involvement in two wars in the middle east, obama care obviously, and now it remains for historians 30 or 40 years from now how those things worked and how the story turns outs. >> this is why i keep saying i hope you have a very good health care plan because we need to read your book on this in 30 to 40 years to fully arrive at that judgment. >> i will do my best. >> it's hard to underscore that more than brian did.

he said this is the most effective endorsement speech he has heard given for his successor. this is unusual to have a two-term outgoing president of any party to endorse his outgoing successor. we've seen that before but what we've not seen is somebody in a position in terms of his views and the perception of him by his successor, that means they will campaign together. for better or worse, al gore decided not to do that with clinton. and george w. bush decided not to do that with ronald reagan. we just don't know what that's going to look like at all. it's one of the most exciting things, i think, about covering this race is that it's a genuine unknown in modern political history. >> 16 years since we've seen the outgoing president on the stage with a nominee. >> physically on stage, yeah.

>> george w. bush didn't make it to the mccain convention. >> how about knowing that the nominee of the other party came to political fame questioning the birthplace of the incumbent president. >> yeah. >> how's that for personal motivation? >> motivation and visions of -- either hot or cold. whichever way. just get it. can it was again a remarkable political performance by a remarkable political performance the likes of which we will not see perhaps in our lifetimes. the thing about the evening, i think, you look back on it and say, duh. this is sort of the obvious political way for the party to go, given the opponent, given that donald trump is the opponent. some of the bernie backers, you know, the day after will not be that happy about it because the obvious play is to take the center, is to take moderates, independents, moderate republicans and bring them over.

and because you know, it's donald trump. >> and you saw -- you've seen the party try to do both. night one was a parade of progressives. >> and you heard that delegate night. >> it will be interesting to see what they do with the culminating night, the themes they focus on and whether or not they want to go back to shoring up the base or what we saw tonight. >> it makes you think of the 1960 election when president eisenhower is asked by reporters about the contributions that dick nixon had made. he responded by saying give me some time. i'll think about it and get back to you. so powerful an endorsement by an incumbent president who's over 50% approval. the democrats indicted donald trump tonight as insane, not mentally fit, not mentally healthy.

they indicted him as un-american. they indicted him as cynical. they indicted donald trump up and down the big speakers tonight on a character basis that is going to be the contour of this race going forward. >> i was thinking specifically about that case that nicolle wallace made where she said this wasn't just about with being against trump. it was about trumpism and the idea of destroying trumpism. barack obama said it doesn't depend on one person. it doesn't come from a person promising that he alone can fix it. and on and on. at that point, the entire arena was on their feet. is that a qualitatively different kind of case we've heard against trump from the rest of the campaign? >> yeah. because rarely would someone from the obama administration many this convention go straight into lines that the republican nominee said in his own speech and going straight into those

lines and putting them in his own. trump saying that i alone can fix this. that, i've never seen that before. he didn't just call him a homegrown demagog. the sentence in which he called him that is -- >> yeah. >> he said anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists, communists, jihadists or homegrown demagogues will always fail in the end. there's the president putting donald trump on a line with fascists, communists and with jihadists. >> lions and tigers and bears. that is the -- that was -- you heard sort of a gasp, i thought, in the room. a gasp or at least a verbal reaction from the roud when they did that. because that is -- >> the fact that that's how dangerous this is and that's how dangerous trumpism is.

if you were afraid of communism, if you were afraid of fascists, this is something you should be afraid of, too. >> we use everything about us being america to resist that. >> one thing that was so interesting in the speech, he said, hey, listen. we disagree on these issues. that's ok. but what he did he framed the election about one big thing and that one big thing is trumpism. he moved it outside of the idealogical right-left contours of the elections that we know. he said to republicans who were watching at home who were disturbed about trump, hey, it's ok that we don't agree on everything but we agree on the one big thing. >> with respect to the home team here in new york, there is candidly only so much we can say after what we've witnessed tonight. we've had a presidential historian confirm that it was a first.

we believe that the story is, in fact, in philadelphia. so we have hours of live coverage stacked up to go deep into the night here on the east. we know you're just getting started on the west coast. president of this event we have just witnessed from the mall in philadelphia, including a second straight special "saturday night live". so for all of it and hosting is our friend chris matthews. >> thank you brian. we've got a special late night edition of hardball coming up with all of the action from the third night of the democratic convention. the star of the night was president barack obama who made a forceful case for hillary clinton and against donald trump. we've got highlights from the president's speech and speeches from tim kaine.

we'll have more on the big stories donald trump's big press conference this morning. he claimed russia hacked into hillary's e-mail. and by the way, the great rob reiner will be with us. i'll bring you my pick for what i think was the line for the night. all ahead on our late night hardball. but now live at the democratic national convention here's a special edition of "saturday night live"'s weekend update. >> hello, hello, everyone. hi, chris mathews. welcome, to weekend update. i'm colin jhost. >> we're live in pennsylvania for the democratic national convention. >> they are holding it inside the wells fargo arena. because nothing says victory like the home of the 76ers. >> easy, man, i'm parked outside. >> barack obama just crushed it,

dude. did you see that? >> amazing. tore it down. physically, they're rebuilding it in the background. i got to say for the dems it's been mixed, good, bad. there's been so much passion and enthusiasm here. but most of it was for the guy who lost. tim kaine is fluent in spanish. only problem is he's whiter than me. one down side. you had this moment where bill clinton gave a speech and humanized hillary. he made her look like a full human being. >> he did. >> right after that she appeared on satellite like some kind of bond villain. looks like kim jong clinton. >> either meet my demands or i'll blow up mt. rushmore.

and watch out little girls, you could be next. you can tell hillary has been waiting for this for so long because that glass breaking effect is from 1983. >> i was impressed by the bernie supporters. they were passionate. look at this. look at all those white girls crying. looks like dave matthews just played "crash into me." what do think is going to happen if bernie sanders doesn't get to be president. you still get to be white. what do you think, if the mexicans leave they're going to take the tacos with them. >> it's a promise. white girls get to keep the tacos. i just like that they thought that bernie's support -- bernie would calm his delegates down. like you've ever heard bernie's voice and felt calm. nothing calms people like a screaming old jewish dude. i can't wait to hear his

meditation tape. everyone relax, let your tensions float away. he wasn't calming them. he was riling them up and handing them over to hillary. it's like you show up at your friend's barbecue, kick a hornet's nest and say goodbye. good luck with the bees. >> i don't know why they were so pumped about bernie anyway. they thought they were a social list. >> yeah. >> what did he think they were going to do when they found out bernie is a socialist. >> and bill clinton, obviously a big moment, gave that moving speech, gave the whole story of how he fell in love with hillary. it was sort of like "the notebook" but if ryan gosling had ripped out all those pages about how he had an affair with an intern. just a few pages. it contains perhaps the strangest detail of any speech this week. let's take a look. >> the truth is we rarely disagreed on parenting, although she did believe that i had gone

a little over the top when i took a couple of days off with chelsea to watch all six police academy movies back to back. >> you watched all six police academies? even steve guttenberg quit after four. also, if you watch all six of them in a row, you definitely inhaled. >> it's also important to note that this was pre-netflix. he had to go to the store and buy them. that's like five pounds of videotapes. you know at least five pounds. probably six, because you know he picked up a porno. >> chelsea waited in the front. >> let me get these seven but put this in a special opaque bag. got my little girl with me. speaking of spouses, michelle obama gave -- >> great transition. >> michelle obama gave a

touching speech about how her daughters were actually raised in the white house which was built by slaves and right on queue bill o'riley offered up some clarity. let's play that. >> slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802. >> hiring! you don't hire slaves. that goes against the very definition of a slave. you slave a slave. you don't hire a slave. congratulations. you're hired, phil. >> my name is mustafa. not anymore it ain't. >> hate to crack that whip but you got to get to work on that oval office. when you get hungary there's a sandwich in the trash. meanwhile white girls are crying because they think they're

running out of tacos. >> the white house. >> is that why they're crying so much? >> donald trump had some criticism from a distance. >> he's married, too. >> that's a good transition. you are full of them. trump, he pointed out first -- first he pointed out that the democrats didn't even mention isis once. you know they're not going to. they're democrats. they don't say radical islam. they don't even say philly phanatic. the man trump called on the russian hackers broke into the server and he told them to track down hillary clinton's e-mails. to me that sort of sounds like donald trump is trying to hire foreign labor. right? i'm just saying won't you be taking jobs away from hard working american hackers? tom crandall harvesting credit card numbers from porn hubs.

or american folk heros who are out there hacking into selena gomez's iphone for fresh news. >> you've been pitching hackleseed for two seasons now. you finally snuck it in on another network. >> joe biden came out to the rocky theme sounding like micky. >> look at how charged up joe biden was. >> perfect. >> god bless you all and may god protect our troops! come on! >> come on! >> arrr! >> came out swinging. pretty sure now he's on his pulling an amtrak train back to washington with his teeth. >> and then roseta stone spoke. [ speaking spanish ]

>> we get it. you speak a little bit of spanish. don't keep doing it. also you're going to be the vice president of the united states possibly. when would we ever need you to do that? >> no. >> when would we ever need eighth grade spanish skills. hey, tim, castro's on the phone, i can't make anything of it. >> hello. oh, si, si. nothing's going to happen, dude. >> doesn't this clinton-kaine sound like a cop who doesn't play by the rules. get in here, you're a loose canon. [ speaking play spanish ] forget the word for loose. there's a lot of protesters. it was hot. hundred-degree temperatures. >> yeah, it was africa hot. we decided to help them out. >> free water. >> come get your free water.

>> free water! on this hot 100 degree day. free water for everybody. >> oh, no, oh, no. >> are you a water fan? >> here's some water. >> oh, no! oh, my god! i'd rather die of thirst. >> oh, my god, take the water back. >> people on the fence about water, i guess. >> i definitely am not interested. >> will you try it? >> absolutely not. >> if i come home with it they wouldn't let me in the house. >> no thank you. i'll walk away tired and thirsty. >> don't let hate change the way you hydrate. jesus turned water into wine. trump turned ice into water. >> this makes water? >> what else? >> totally tasteless. >> man, you couldn't almost tell you were acting. >> trump water, make water great again.

>> god made water, trump put it in bottles. >> we protesting and we're -- >> this is good. >> hmm. >> she's guzzling. she's guzzling. >> it's good. >> it's pretty groovy. >> trump water. >> pretty groovy. >> well, we really changed some minds today and we also didn't. >> back to you, colin and michael. thanks. >> i love that woman who screamed at the trump water. >> it was hot. >> thank you for joining us. check out hillary clinton who's speaking tomorrow night and i guarantee you one thing, it's the least she's ever been paid for a speech. hey! don't boo p. >> there you go. >> back to coverage of the democratic national convention

on msnbc with our boy chris mathews. see you soon, chris. >> thanks to our "saturday night live"'s guys. we'll be talking to both of them later tonight. coming up next, the highlights of day three of the democratic convention, including the big speech from barack obama. this is the special late night edition of hardball live in philadelphia for the democratic convention right after this. america is already great. america is already strong. and i promise you, our strength, our greatness does not depend on donald trump. my advice for looking younger longer?

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welcome back to the special late-night edition of hardball live from the democratic convention near independence hall. for democrats it's been celebrating hillary clinton as the first woman to be nominated by a major party. tonight, it was about contrasting her experience and vision for america with that of her opponent donald trump. a rousing address by barack obama, he summoned everything he had to deliver, full-throated endorsement of hillary clinton, passing the baton to the woman he hopes will succeed him.

>> tonight i ask you to do for hillary clinton what you did for me. i ask you to carry her the same way you carried me. because you're who i was talking about 12 years ago. when i talked about hope. it's been you who fueled my dogged faith in our future, even when the odds were great. even when the road is long, hope in the face of difficulty. hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope! america, you've vindicated that hope these past eight years. and now i'm ready to pass the baton and do my part as a private citizen, so this year in this election, i'm asking you to join me, to reject cynicism and reject fear and to summon what is best in us to elect hillary clinton as the next president of the united states. and show the world we still believe in the promise of this

great nation. >> greatness. before we bring on our great round table tonight at independence mall, let's go back inside the wells fargo center for our nbc reporters who were inside the hall for the president's speech tonight. kasie hunt, kellry o'donnell, kristen walker. the aforementioned road warriors. kristen, take over. hey there. it was a momentous night here. the crowd was electric when president obama was speaking. this is the type of speech that president obama has become known for. it had this incredible arc, he painted a sharp contrast of the state of the united states to the one we heard from donald trump last week. he proved he can be an effective attack dog against donald trump. the democratic party is eager for him to get on the campaign trail.

tonight he proved why. what were your thoughts? >> he was able to make his own argument and do it in his own voice. he didn't have to be an attack dog like some others have to be. i remember being in the room in 2004 when we were still learning how to pronounce his name. he was a united states senator and we were thinking we would know more about him down the line. no one thought we would be here at the end of his second term. the movies shown for him, for joe biden, took the delegates on a sentimental journey. tim kaine, a likable guy in a room that was prepared to try to embrace him, even though there were some policy differences in the way. >> i don't know what i think about tim kaine's donald trump's impression. >> it took some real courage. >> it did. i'm for it. >> joe biden, for a second, we've listened to all kinds of surrogates try to make the case for hillary clinton.

i was just struck by how well joe biden seemed to do it. he seemed to be like a character witness for her in a way that many other people haven't. >> they have not always been so close but he did it with heart. >> in so many ways, he has felt like this should be his night but he, of course, was so gracious. >> i want to ask about the obama speech. the emotion in here was unbelievable. i was in the illinois delegation. we weren't too far away from each other. there were so many tears. this was obviously so special to so many people in this room. you talk about this trust and likability stuff they were trying to not only remember barack obama's two terms but also help hillary clinton out. the reporting i was fascinated was this emotion by the people in the audience but you heard of emotional moments backstage afterwards. what did this mean to those

guys, you think? >> you could see right behind the main podium, a lot of staffers would come and go as the speeches went. at the end a lot of obama staffers, hillary clinton staffers came out at the end. we saw dwafd david plouffe and other campaign managers fist bump each other. it's so rare that all of these figures are in the same place at the same time. so you had president obama went in to talk to tim kaine right before kaine was about to go out and speak. hillary clinton with the bidens and the kaines. >> what struck me also is you know how much goes into one of these speeches. this is a president deeply engaged in the writing of speech. >> he went off script. >> the birth certificate joke was -- he had that ready. he had that in his pocket. >> it's personal for him. >> yes. >> you could tell when he talked about his vision of america

versus donald trump's. tonight president obama said look at how far we've come. you can hear the republican criticism already, but i wonder how voters are going to respond. >> i was wondering the same thing. how does this play outside this room? it's obvious how it played in here. >> and we were immersed in democratic delegates and the journey they're on, painful for some to say goodbye to obama and still the embrace. it's not entirely there for hillary clinton. there are a lot of bernie supporters in the room. when we go out to the swing voters who will decide this, maybe the most effective player tonight was mike bloomberg who has been a republican and an independent. he came on and used the word "sane." we must choose a sane choice. that was powerful. >> full disclosure, he was my former boss.

i was talking to some members of the new york state delegation who were members of the democratic party of new york who ran a campaign against him. and they gave him a standing ovation which i thought was telling. >> finally, i think we're running out of time, the optics of this. you had the cutaways to bill clinton when the president said she is more qualified than i am, than you were, bill. >> right. >> his face told the whole tale. >> it did. i really liked as well watching bill clinton's face, watching him react to how president obama was talking about his wife and when you think about how far the clintons have come in this and of course, to see the rise of barack obama in opposition to her, this is a full circle in so many overlapping ways that i think it really struck me. >> we knew that hillary clinton was going to walk out. people were on sort of the ride of the moment and so then, this huge exhale and it was really

something when she walked out. we know that choreography is going to happen. if you hear sawing and banging, they're going to change the stage for tomorrow. >> i'm glad you raised that point because that moment this crowd went wild. of course, that does leave us with tomorrow's big moment, chris. that's what we're all anticipating. chris, back to you. >> thanks so much for that. anyway, tonight president obama praised hillary clinton for having the guts -- this was i thought really something -- to put herself in the arena, to use the phrase of teddy roosevelt and he mocked donald trump as a schoolyard bully. he called them a jamboree of pessimism about the country. here he goes. >> donald is not really a facts guy. he calls himself a business guy, which is true.

i have to say i know plenty of businessmen and women who have achieved remarkable success without leaving a trail of lawsuits and unpaid workers and people who felt like they got cheated. >> afterwards, the democratic nominee, of course, hillary clinton came on to the stage. as the crowd cheered them on, it was clinton sort of getting together by both of them. this dramatic night happened exactly 12 years ago that -- after a little-known illinois state senator with an interesting name made his debut on the national stage. >> i say to them tonight, there is not a liberal america and a conservative america, there is the united states of america. there is not a black america and a white america and latino america and asian america. there's the united states of americas. >> how are you seeing the first black president there.. >> how are you seeing the first black president there. the reason i say that is because

i think the immigrant experience combined with the african-american background with the education combined with the speech. but that speech was a piece of work. >> i'm consistent, guys. i don't change. right now joined by joy reid. get up early for her. chris hayes is host of "all in." michael steele former chairman of the national committee. he was responsible for last week's convention. just kidding. just kidding. >> chris, may i say that -- with that old clip, you were younger and stockier and i was much darker. >> right. >> old pictures are always good pictures. and you're going to learn that. let's talk about tonight.

i thought a couple of these -- meanwhile i want to talk about this crazy, crazy impulse of donald trump to call upon the russian defense intelligence agency to screw his opponent. >> yeah. >> to unleash their 31,000 e-mails that he said she had destroyed and that they would somehow have access to. is anybody better at cyberattacks than me? >> chris i think you are more of an expert at this. >> oh, yeah. i've spent years as a hacker. i used to subscribe to 2600, which for the nerds -- >> i want to find out. when can someone say i'm bringing in outside help. i'm bringing in the ruskies. >> i think he has a genuine affection for russia and how it is run by vladimir putin.

this is part of the kind of paleo conservative world view that trump is a creature of. he directly addressed -- he looked into the camera and directly addressed. he said russia, if you're listening, and then he -- they have to pull this ridiculous jedi mind trick like they always have to do. we all heard what he said. they tell us we didn't see what we all saw. >> potential violation of the logan act on television. president obama explained why donald trump is not the answer for america. let's listen. >> america is already strong. i promise you our strength, our greatness does not depend on donald trump. he's betting that if he scares enough people he might score just enough votes to win this election.

and that's another bet that donald trump will lose. and the reason he'll lose it is because he's selling the american people short. we're not a fragile people. we're not a frightful people. our power doesn't come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. we don't look to be ruled. america's never been about what one person says he'll do for us. it's about what can be achieved by us together. >> well, michael and everybody, it was a canny speech. he didn't address the anger in the country.

he spoke about it being fear. >> he put it in the context of fear. i'm curious as to how it resonates outside this hall. this was a drop the mike speech. he led with the punch he wanted to lead with and he ended with the punch he wanted to end with. effectively he did everything he needed to do. here's the rub. hillary clinton has to speak tomorrow night. the problem the country has is is less with barack obama and more with her. the question becomes can she pick up that conversation that he started, that the first lady started, that joe biden started all around her and elevating her potential presidency, can she bring that home with the rest of the country that 70% right now are saying they don't like the direction the country is going. >> he as president at the summit of his presidency, what he's saying is that donald trump is somehow fundamentally not an american politician.

>> yeah. >> he's saying we're america, he's not american. he's a democrat -- we're a democracy. he's a dictator. we're for steady experience, he's a demagog. it takes a president from that summit to make that argument and not sound -- he didn't sound historical. he didn't sound alarm bells about dictators in the night. he just said this is not how we conduct business in america. i thought that was very shrewdly done. hillary, herself, it will not be -- >> it's a challenge for her. >> i think this was perhaps the single strongest night of the convention so far, although the night before was pretty strong and incredible, very emotional. that was about hillary clinton as a mom. i thought that the one-two punch of joe biden and president obama was incredibly effective tonight. joe biden, probably the most enthusiastic cheerleader for america that you could have, the democratic party has

reclaimed -- they have become the party of optimism. they did that. >> what are they now? >> because you have a guy on the other side making the claim that america is destroyed and decrepit and he's making a claim that he is the state that he is the only one to fix it and that the country is strong. and obama made the case that we're strong because we change. >> not only do you have to follow that act, that performance, which nobody can. secondly, she's facing a party which includes the progressive left. that don't think the country is going in the right direction. >> rights. >> and an opponent that almost 70% of the people say we're going in the wrong direction. for him to come out and say everything's coming up roses is ok. he's leaving. she's trying to come in. how do you come in against a head wind that says no, the country's not happy, stop giving us the cheerful speech that

doesn't match the reality. >> i think that's exactly the correct needle that she has to thread. . if you intuit there's sort of this unrest, disquiet in the country that you are going to be the inheritor, how do you stop that? to me, the most important thing for her to take seriously, to speak directly to the people who don't feel included in what ron brown calls, i think very aptly, the coalition of the ascendant, which has become the obama coalition. you talk about where this american sort of shining city on the hill is coming from the democrats, it's because of a shared belief that we're now the majority. >> right. >> this is our country even if wages are stagnated. >> i got your point. we'll come back to this.

the president touched on this. i'm tagged up on base on this. he talked to the men who took pride in hard work in paroling for their families who now feel forgotten. still ahead, the other big speeches of the night, including the debut for hillary clinton's running mate. well it may not be at this level tim kaine. plus rob reiner, and the host of "saturday night live" weekend update. they're joining us physically. our coverage of the democratic national consequence continues live from the great city of philadelphia. >> fixture. >> it's not a fixture. >> it's a zink. >> you wash your hands in a gazink.

welcome back to a special late night hardball in philadelphia. we want to look at some of what we heard tonight. this segment we call under review. we go to lawrence o'donnell. >> let's listen to something president obama said comparing the rhetoric of ronald reagan and donald trump.

>> ronald reagan called america a shining city on a hill. donald trump calls it a divided crime scene. >> sometimes when you hear those quotes of donald trump, it is hard to believe that he actually did say those things, although if you've been listening closely, you know he did. he said the country is a divided crime scene in a tweet july 17. he said our country is a divided crime scene and it will only get worse. he also said that our military is a disaster. you heard a couple of speakers say that tonight, including president obama and donald trump did say in one of the debates that our military is a disaster. that is something that no other presidential candidate has ever said. now let's listen to something that tim kaine said tonight in his speech. >> you can go on hillary clinton.com right now and find out exactly how she'll make the

biggest investment in new jobs in a generation, how she'll defend and build on wall street reform, how she'll reform our immigration system to create a path to citizenship, how she'll make it possible to graduate from college debt free. you can see how she'll protect roe v. wade, guarantee equal pay for women and make family leave a reality. >> everything he said is true. you can go on hillary clinton's website and find those things there as positions of the campaign. but there is a problem and this is a problem that applies to the trump campaign, too, it commonly applies to presidential campaigns. those things are only possible if the democrats win back a big majority in both the house and the senate. if the republicans continue to

control just the house or just the senate in either case, none of those things would be able to happen, none of those things would get even a hearing in a republican-controlled senate or in a republican-controlled house. they would never come to a vote. the one thing in there that hillary clinton probably could deliver on is the line there about protecting row versus wade, which she would do through appointments to the supreme court. again, that's if. now this is a question, america. that's if a republican-controlled united states senate would actually confirm hillary clinton's selections to the united states supreme court. chris, back to you. >> lawrence, you understand how laws are made. >> yeah. >> that is the problem. >> that's the thing. we often treat these campaigns, even the media does, as campaigns for king. you know, we'll say to them what will you do. the accurate way to say this is i will ask congress for a tax increase or -- and no candidate ever does that, chris, you know

it. they never say it that way, that that's the way it actually has to work. >> i think there's an assumption once you get in there. lawrence o'donnell, a skilled legislative observer. thanks for being here. only one day left of the convention. that's the big speech by the nominee hillary clinton tomorrow night. she has a couple tough acts to follow. still ahead i'm going to be joined by the stars of "saturday night live's" weekend upset michael che and colin jost. it's coming up live -- well, it is live. look at all those people out there. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works... ...in one week. with the... fastest retinol formula. ...to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®.

♪ look, we democrats have always had plenty differences with the republican party, but what we heard in cleveland last week wasn't particularly republican, and it sure wasn't conservative. >> trump says he wants to run the nation like he is running his business? god help us. >> this guy doesn't have a clue about the middle class. actually he has no clue period. >> truth be told the richest thing about donald trump is his hypocrisy. >> and tonight i ask you to do for hillary clinton what you did for me. i ask you to carry her the same